Simi Valley Forfeits League Championship : Prep baseball: Royal, which finished second, is awarded the 1992 title because the Pioneers used an ineligible player.

Marmonte League officials Wednesday stripped the Simi Valley High baseball team of its 1992 league championship because it used an ineligible player. The title was awarded to second-place Royal.

Simi Valley, which posted an 11-3 league mark and finished one game ahead of the Highlanders, recorded two league wins while using a player who later was ruled academically ineligible. Royal last won a league title in 1972.

“Emotionally, the kids have mixed feelings,” Royal Coach Dan Maye said.

“It lacks the luster it would have had last season, but it’s nice for some of the kids who graduated because we had a good season on the field.”

Bill Clark, Southern Section administrator in charge of baseball, said Simi Valley Principal Katheryn Scroggin told the section office in September about the possibility of a player on the school’s baseball team having been ineligible.

Section officials ordered the school to conduct an investigation and report its findings.

“They came to us with an interpretation and we told them they were correct in their interpretation,” Clark said.

“We’ve been told they had used an (ineligible) player and that they were going to have to forfeit some games. We told them to notify those (schools) they played. I assume that’s what they’re doing now.”

Clark declined to name the player.

Scroggin and George Ragsdale, Simi Valley’s athletic director, did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Royal Principal Dave Jackson confirmed that league members voted Wednesday to strip Simi Valley of its title but declined further comment.

Westlake Principal Curt Luft, president of the Marmonte League, was unavailable for comment.

Mike Scyphers, baseball coach at Simi Valley, was out of town Wednesday.

Aaron Whitley, a senior who played right field last season, was stunned by the turn of events.

“I’m shocked,” Whitley said. “We won it. We’ll always know what we did on the field.”

Maye said Simi Valley was forced to forfeit league games against Royal and Westlake.

By virtue of the forfeits, Royal’s league record improved to 11-3; Simi Valley dropped to 9-5, placing the Pioneers in a second-place tie with Channel Islands. Westlake, which finished tied with Camarillo at 6-8, improved to 7-7 and moved to fourth.

Royal’s overall record became 19-7, Simi Valley dropped to 19-9 and Westlake improved to 13-10.